The Kansas State Wildcats fell to the Duke Blue Devils on Tuesday night at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo. Duke fans aren't surprised by the victory but the rest of the world is as they were just a 5.5 point favorite so not many people saw an 82-68 game coming. Via Duke Basketball Report:
We could have told them. We could have told Jacob Pullen when he more or less said that transition was everything and they didn’t even want to have to get into a half-court offense. We could have told columnist Bob Lutz, who said Duke had to be ready for what they were going to face. Kansas State is a talented team but like a lot of teams they play like a boxer aiming for a first-round knockout. When it doesn’t happen, what’s next? You have to have something besides a haymaker. Talented though they are, Kansas State didn’t have that.
That's pretty accurate. Jacob Pullen said on Monday night that they wanted to be in transition offensively and didn't want to set up their offense. That was clearly the case but Duke protected against that in an excellent defensive performance making K-State avoid the fast tempo on offense that they wanted.
SB Nation's Andrew Sharp is wondering...just how good are the Duke Blue Devils?
They've got the best backcourt in the country, the best small forward, the best freshman guard, one of the best coaches, the best homecourt advantage, and last night, they looked A LOT better than the fourth-best team in the country. Looking up and down their roster, you get the sense this could be one of the best teams we've seen in years. Could Duke go undefeated and win a second-straight national title?